One was a housewife from South Korea who wanted to be a U.S. citizen just like everyone else in her family. Another, from Mexico, wanted educational opportunity for his three children. Others wanted the right to vote.

Forty-eight immigrants from 17 nations gathered at the Moraine Park Amphitheater in Rocky Mountain National Park on Tuesday to take an oath.

They stood under a powder blue sky, facing a broad meadow stretching away to stark mountains.

"I don't want you to ever forget where you came from - that is your heritage," Robert Mather, district director of the Citizenship and Immigration Service, told them. But with the oath, he said, "You will be Americans."

Then they promised to uphold the Constitution and defend it.

And they were Americans.

The meat packer

Jesus Peña, a native of Mexico, works at the Swift meatpacking plant in Greeley.

He and his wife, Sylvia, who is from the United States, have three children. One attends the University of Northern Colorado, and two are in Greeley public schools.

"I've been in the United States for 25 years and my kids are Americans. I think it's time to become a citizen and get the right to vote," said Peña, 42.

Citizens have economic opportunity, including government jobs, he said. "It's a beautiful country."

Mental health worker

Anca Marilena Niculae came from Romania when she was 13. She lives in Fort Collins, where she is a therapist with the Larimer Center for Mental Health.

"I think it's symbolic of the country and the freedom and the opportunity it provides," Niculae, 29, said of citizenship.

"And also, I wanted to be on this TV show called the Amazing Race, and you're required to be a U.S. citizen," Niculae added. The show involves a grueling race around the world with a partner.

"I'm going to try out for it now," she said of the show.

"It's not very many countries that provide fun, exciting things like that for adults and allow adults to enjoy them."

The retired grocer

Economic opportunity isn't a motivating factor for Patanapong Vimuktanon. The Thai immigrant is retired.

Vimuktanon, 70, owned a grocery store in California.

He first came to the United States 40 years ago, but went back two years later. He returned to California in the early 1980s.

Now he lives with his daughters in Fort Collins. Both are college graduates, he quickly points out.

"My wife likes it here - and why not?" he said.

"This is final - I become a citizen at this age," he said. "Just like, you finished your trip."

"Everyone is equal," he said of why he wants to be an American. "That's the most important part."

And dad is next

Pat Schlote of Highlands Ranch has been in the United States for 10 years. She's from near Toronto, Canada.

"We wanted to come here for about 25 years, and 10 years ago my husband's company brought him down here, so we decided to take advantage of this (naturalization)," said Schlote, 55. "You kind of feel like an outsider until you become a citizen.

"You get wrapped up with politics when you're living here, and it's frustrating when you can't vote, whether it be federal or municipal or whatever."

Schlote is semi-retired from secretarial work.

Also taking the oath Tuesday was Schlote's daughter, Melanie Schlote, 20. She's studying biology at Colorado State University and wants to be a veterinarian.

Pat Schlote said her husband, Jim, is preparing for citizenship, too.

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